Inferiority
by paramdell
Summary: When an official tournament is held in Konoha, girls versus boys, blood begins to boil, especially when Naruto opens his big mouth, stating that boys are better than girls. Sand Siblings included.  :
1. The Girls

**Hey there guys! 'Tis Manny, with an old Naruto story that I had previously deleted from the site, but decided to put back up, after some editing. Ok, so I know this is a little on the short side, I'm sorry! I just ran out of anything else to add on to this chapter! D:**

**Enjoy, regardless of length. :]**

As the dusky pink of the sky began morphing into a royal navy, and stars began to fleck the dark sky, like tiny beacons of light drifting through an inky sea, the majority of the Hidden Leaf's inhabitants began to drift away to their welcoming homes.

Night fall ending a day was very similar in ways to that of a heavy curtain dropping to signal the end of a show, yet, for a select few chunins that occupied the Training Grounds all that day, time was still bountiful.

Metallic clangs of kunai upon kunai reverberated through the air, occasionally sending nesting birds in nearby trees to scatter in a fluster of feathers, as half a dozen kunoichis sparred ferociously, oblivious to the time that had slipped straight past their notice.

Flipping back through the crisp air, a girl no older than fourteen grinned ruefully as she watched her clandestine shadow clone slink behind her brunette opponent, who was blind to the armed doppelganger that was stealthily advancing towards her back.

In one swift move, the clone swiped at Tenten's neck, as Yuuki darted at her, hurling a handful of shurkiens as she did so. The older of the two promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing behind the real Yuuki, who had halted in surprise at the unexpected move. Before the match could further advance, Ino Yamanaka decided to intervene.

"A'ight!" called the blonde, who had been sitting on a nearby tree stump, swinging her legs aimlessly as she watched the two battle. Deciding that they had had their fair share of fun, she hopped off the stump, flashed her friends a smug grin and boasted, "Ok, me and Sakura are fighting t next! But don't blink; this won't last long."

A groan escaped the lips of a pink haired girl, who had been resting her aching body against the trunk of a sakura tree.

"Ino, I just _had_a match! Against Temari! Can't you fight Hinata? Anyway, I'd kick your arse sky high within the first minute."

Snorting in disbelief, Ino rolled her eyes, "Whatever, billboard brow."

Tenten stared at Ino in disbelief, exchanging bemused looks with another blonde kunoichi.

"Well," began Kira, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "I reckon we should call it a day. We've all worked really hard today; there's no chance of the guys beating us now, I bet they haven't even begun training! Plus, if Sakura didn't rip Ino's head off at the uncalled for remark, and Ino didn't retaliate with equal levels of cannibal instincts, then that's a definite sign that we're tired."

"Well said," said Yuuki, grinning. She had promptly collapsed onto the grassy floor as soon as Ino had stopped her fight, and was now lying on her back, her long locks surrounding her pale face like a halo. She rolled onto her stomach and asked no one in particular, "D'you really reckon that the boys haven't started training?"

A few of them shrugged, Tenten nodded, and Temari replied, "Knowing Gaara and Kankuro, they won't feel the need to train, so I can guarantee you that they haven't."

"Well that's guys for you, huh?" Yuuki quipped knowledgably.

"Yeah, guys and you, lazy-butt," muttered Kira with a smirk.

Yuuki threw Kira a scathing look, turned her back to her, and announced to everyone, "Okay guys, I'm going to drag my beaten body to bed, and see you at the crack of dawn. That _is_alright with every one, right?"

Sakura, Ino and Kira shifted uncomfortably, mumbling excuses of 'beauty sleep', 'boys haven't started training' and 'I'm not the flippin' Hokage, gimme a break!'

The latter was cried by Kira.

Yuuki turned to the eldest, looking in to her eyes with a quizzical air.

Temari sighed, got up and stretched her arms and legs. Yawning widely, she said, "Well... We _have_ been working hard for the last week. How 'bout we start at noon?" A smile cracked on her face as she continued, "We can all sleep in for once."

This aspect was greeted by a whoop of delight from the girls. All but Hinata, who smiled politely, inwardly glad.

The group of kunoichis began to dispatch, each going their separate ways, cracking jokes and calling out their farewells, all of them having the same glowing confidence that told them that they were going to win. Once again, all but Hinata, who hoped that they did well, but above all else, enjoyed themselves.

**Well...? Did you hate it? Love it? Please review! :)**


	2. The Guys

**Hey guys. Sorry for the long gap between chapters, but the first chapter was such a loser shot, I wasn't sure whether I should continue or not. :-/**

**But, here I go, regardless. Enjoy...**

Ichiraku's Ramen Bar was jam packed with a group of rowdy teenage boys, laughing at pathetic jokes that were far from funny, and chattering about everything and anything, as long as they avoided the whole point of their being there.

Slap-bang in the middle of the hectic 'meeting' sat Naruto and Choji, shovelling down bowl after bowl of ramen at disturbingly dangerous speeds. Shikamaru, positive that something was going to go wrong, decided it was about time to intervene; either someone was going to have their eye poked out with a chopstick, or one of the two was going to throw up rather violently; the 19 bowls of pork ramen assured that much.

"Uh, guys? Don't you think it's about time you stopped?" he asked, his tone void of any real concern, other than that of getting covered in half digested, high cholesterol ramen. Choji, being his team mate for the last two years, paused momentarily to look at him quizzically.

"Whaddya mean?" he managed to slur, his mouth filled to bursting point with food. Shikamaru opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Naruto yelling geelfully, "YES! IN. YOUR. FACE! Twenty empty bowls of ramen, licked clean, BEFORE YOU!"

Sighing, he rubbed his protruding belly comfortingly, smiling a blissful smile.

"What?" yelped the Akimichi. "You cheated! That doesn't count!" He turned to face the rest of the group, searching for support. "I'm right, aren't I? He cheated, didn't he?" He was practically pouting at this point.

The Hyuuga prodigy, situated directly beside Shikamaru sighed and threw Choji a look of disdain.

"Does it really matter who won or lost? Now that you've had your ridiculous ramen eating competition, it may prove useful to actually get something worthwhile done." Turning round on his seat to face his company, he said dryly, "I assume you all are well informed as to why we've gathered here?"

Kiba answered for everyone, "Please Neji, we're not freakin' dumbasses. We're hardly going to show up if we don't even know why we're going... although, it'd be nice to know why you chose Ichiraku's as out rendezvous point."

Neji narrowed his eyes, so eerily blank, and said, "I didn't choose the place, Naruto did..." Figures. "Anyway, now that we're coming up to the actual tournament, I think we should start some practicing. And seeing as _someone_"- all eyes turned to Naruto, sending out evil hate waves; it was as if everyone had been rehearsing this in their spare time- "opened their big mouth and got the girls all fired up, we _have _to train..." he trailed off into a pissed silence, leaving the leading role open for someone else to pick up where he left off.

Lee broke the silence momentarily to say something that sounded an awful lot like, 'Is this not fun, comrades?'

Kankuro sighed, seeing that no one else looked as if they were willing to contribute any words of wisdom, other than the guy who needed a serious eyebrow waxing... and new wardrobe. "I think the best place to start off is to find a training ground... any ideas?" This was followed with many shrugs, and mutters, most of which were entirely incomprehensible.

"We could always use the training grounds!" offered Naruto, in what he felt was a pure streak of brilliance. Kankuro sighed and rolled his eyes. _Why was I forced to partake in this _stupid _tournament, with these dumb kids? _he thought to himself desperately. Temari and Gaara were going to pay for making him join in. Shooting Gaara a look of malevolence, he turned down Naruto's genius suggestion.

"Obviously that's the first place we would train, but the girls have already made that their official training area. There's no way in all hell are we going to get a chance to spar there."

After another long, uneventful silence, in which nearly everybody pretended to be in deep thought, trying to find a solution to their dilemma, but really their minds were wandering to utterly unrelated topics, Neji grumbled, "I guess I have no choice but to offer the Hyuuga sparring grounds."

A gleeful grin cracked on Naruto's face at the prospect of training in the Hyuuga compound.

"Man, this is going to be so cool!" he cried, now dying for this meeting to end so the training could commence.

"Yeah, let's go!" said Kiba, making his way to the entrance of the ramen bar, Akamaru at his heel.

Kankuro shrugged and made his way behind Kiba, with Gaara following suit. Naruto leaped out of his seat, racing to Lee outside. Realising at the same time that if they were the last ones left in there, they'd have to pay the bill, Neji marched out, followed by Choji, who paused to clap Shikamaru on the shoulder bracingly, saying, "Thanks Shikamaru, I owe you one." Then he legged it.

"What is he on about?" muttered Shikamaru. "This is such a dra-" he was cut off by the owner handing him a worryingly long bill. The colour instantly drained from his face as he scanned down the piece of paper clutched in his hands. _They'll pay for this..._ he thought bitterly, then laughed humourlessly at the irony of it all.


End file.
